ICON Aircraft Closes $25 Million Round of Investment Capital

LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2011 -

ICON Aircraft announced that it closed a $25 million round of
equity funding in June. The round will fund the company through the
completion of its ongoing engineering development program,
manufacturing setup, and the beginning of production of its A5
amphibious sport plane.

(Photo:   href="photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110628/LA27050">photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110628/LA27050)

The financing was led by U.S. and U.K. venture investors Satyen
Patel and Bart Becht, who have deep expertise in building consumer
product companies.  Other participating investors in the round
included Eric Schmidt (chairman of Google), Phil Condit (former
chairman/CEO of Boeing), and several top Silicon Valley venture
capitalists. ICON will receive $15 million initially, with an
option for an additional $10 million.

“We are honored to have the confidence, support, and enthusiasm
of such great investors,” said Kirk Hawkins, ICON Aircraft’s CEO
and founder. “That we were able to successfully raise funds in this
time of economic uncertainty demonstrates ICON’s unique and
compelling market appeal. Not only does ICON have an extraordinary
aircraft and an all-star team, but the consumer response to the A5
has been overwhelming, as confirmed by an order backlog of nearly
500 aircraft ($85 million).”

In conjunction with this financing, ICON is also proud to
announce the addition of two new members to ICON’s board of
directors: Satyen Patel and Bart Becht.  Patel, the former
head of NIKE in Asia, brings an exceptional track record in
building world-class consumer product brands.  Becht is one of
the U.K.’s top business leaders and is the CEO of the U.K. consumer
products giant, Reckitt Benckiser.

Flight testing of the A5 is continuing at an aggressive pace and
is focused on finalizing the company’s newly designed
spin-resistant wing, as well as refining directional stability.
Flight testing is scheduled to conclude in the coming months.
 ICON continues to expand its engineering and manufacturing
team to support the completion of the development program in 2011,
as well as the transition to production in 2012. ICON has revised
its production start date to the fourth quarter of 2012.

“The unprecedented disruptions in the capital markets during the
past two years have challenged every aircraft company out there,
and ICON is no exception. While these difficulties have delayed our
production start, we’re excited that those challenges are behind us
now and that we’re funded through production.  There is a lot
of work and some risk still ahead, but ICON continues its
uncompromising commitment to safety and excellence.  We remain
laser focused on delivering our customers the coolest sport plane
on the planet,” said Hawkins.

For more information, visit href="www.iconaircraft.com/">www.iconaircraft.com
.

ABOUT ICON AIRCRAFT:

ICON Aircraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded by
Kirk Hawkins and Steen Strand while at Stanford University shortly
after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enacted regulation
changes in 2004 that created the new sport flying category.
 Kirk is an engineer, former U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter
pilot, and graduate of Stanford Business School. Steen, a former
investment banker and Harvard graduate, holds a Masters in
Engineering from Stanford in Product Design and is a serial
entrepreneur. A privately funded company, ICON Aircraft’s base of
operations is in Southern California, which is a hotbed for
automotive design and aerospace engineering.

ABOUT FAA LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT &
SPORT PILOT CLASSIFICATIONS:

In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created a new
classification of easy-to-fly and affordable two-person planes
called Light Sport Aircraft that enable a new classification of
Sport Pilots to fly in uncontrolled airspace during the daytime and
in good weather. The Sport Pilot License focuses on the
fundamentals of flying and requires a minimum of 20 hours of
in-flight training, which is half the time and cost of a
traditional Private Pilot License. The Experimental Aircraft
Association (EAA) described the new rules as “the biggest change in
aviation in 50 years.”

Candice Jacobson, +1-562-881-4683, cjacobson at leaderenterprises.com